Substance use disorders and social functioning from an occupational perspective: a pre and post-study

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/2526-8910.ctoAO266634762

Keywords:

Substance Use Disorders, Psychosocial Support Systems, Mental Health Services, Occupational Therapy, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Improvements in the social functioning (SF) of people experiencing substance use disorders (SUD) can occur even without use discontinuation. Occupational Therapy (OT) performs multifaceted work on it. Objective: This study analyzes the SF of people experiencing SUD before and after treatment and the contributions of OT. Method: A pre and post-study before and after starting treatment for SUD in a Psychosocial Care Centre – Alcohol and other Drugs (CAPS-AD) in Brasilia, Brazil – was conducted with 35 clients based on an SF questionnaire. A measure of the participant's SF improvement was defined as the difference between the SF before treatment (SFpre) with the SF after treatment (SFafter). The association between SF and sociodemographic variables/drug/previous treatment was verified by linear regression; all analyses considered a significance level < 5%. Results: Most of the 35 participants were male (83%), 30-49 years old (77%), attended elementary school (57%), unemployed (57%), single (46%), Black (40%), had been treated previously (60%) and had present alcohol use disorder (46%). Overall, people undergoing treatment significantly improved their SF. Multivariate analysis showed that Whites improved their SF more (mean of 18.8± 10.4) than Pardos/Blacks (10.8± 8.7; 14.1± 6.4), and the improvement in SF was lower for participants who were taking treatment for the first time (10.3± 5.7) compared with those who had previous treatment (17.2± 9.4). Conclusion:Treatment in CAPS-AD improved the SF of people experiencing SUD, and the OT professional is a key agent in improving SF due to its performance and approach to clients in vulnerable contexts.

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Published

2023-07-20

How to Cite

Moreira, S. F. da C., Nakano, E. Y., Santos, H. S. B. dos, Oliveira, K. D., Miranda, K. G. de, Fonseca, R. M. A. M., & Gallassi, A. D. (2023). Substance use disorders and social functioning from an occupational perspective: a pre and post-study. Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 31, e3476. https://doi.org/10.1590/2526-8910.ctoAO266634762

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Original Article